The critical role of uptime in Industrial IoT

Uptime is now the deciding factor between industry leaders and those left behind.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is not just transforming manufacturing, supply chain management, and industrial processes – it is rewriting the rules of efficiency and competitiveness.

Factories that once relied on isolated, manual processes are now joined-up and smart through connected machinery, real-time analytics and augmented reality/virtual reality solutions to optimise operations.

These technologies are raising the bar on productivity, with a positive impact on revenue, customer satisfaction, and overall business reputation.

But with this transformation comes dependency. Industry cannot afford to be without its IoT applications, as they are embedded into the very fabric of operations.

Uptime is now the deciding factor between industry leaders and those left behind.

How IIoT is disrupting industry through smarter, faster operations
From robotics and automation to asset tracking and monitoring, IIoT is disrupting factories, warehouses, and supply chains.

The numbers speak to the scale of this change with the Singapore IIoT market estimated to reach S$1.05b by 2025, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.92% from 2025 to 2029.

Applications driving this growth include machine and plant monitoring in support of predictive maintenance, robotics for rapid and consistent assembly lines, video and LIDAR (light detection and ranging), warehouse inventory robots, and environmental sensors that enable optimised conditions.

Data from these IIoT applications and devices gives organisations unprecedented visibility into their industrial operations. This insight supports optimisation and efficiency initiatives, product innovation, quality improvements, and a reduction in production downtime.

The impact is undeniable. Singapore's manufacturing sector is experiencing a significant upswing. In January 2025, output surged by 9.1% compared to the same month last year, marking the seventh straight month of growth.

Beyond productivity, IIoT is a shield against operational risks. Expensive, mission-critical assets are vulnerable to theft and damage, but IIoT-powered security systems enable continuous tracking, monitoring and protection.

The cost of IIoT downtime
Whilst IIoT is driving impressive productivity gains, downtime remains an increasingly expensive liability. According to Siemens, unplanned downtime costs the world’s 500 biggest companies S$1.81t a year. Small and medium-sized manufacturers suffer too, with an estimated $19,727 per unproductive hour at the top end.

At these stakes, uptime is a non-negotiable necessity. Organisations need to do everything they can to keep things running and have robust business continuity plans in place to reduce the impact of any unforeseen event to as little as possible.

As companies embed IIoT in their operations, they must afford the highest due diligence to ensure resilience is built into their processes and IIoT device, network, and cloud services.

What are the risks of an IIoT outage?
Uptime depends on uncompromising reliability across every link in the IIoT value chain and organisations must understand the full extent of where the risks are.

IIoT solutions are made up of devices, networks, software, applications, operational processes and invariably, cloud environments. If any part fails, the entire system is at risk.

That can make protecting IIoT solutions a seemingly daunting task. Mitigating these risks requires an all-in approach – resilience and automation must be built into IIoT solutions, ensuring rapid recovery and minimal disruption when issues arise.

Best practice for maximising IIoT uptime 
To stay competitive and resilient, industrial companies must embed high availability into every layer of their IIoT infrastructure. It starts with systems built for continuity—those that feature built-in redundancy, load balancing, and auto-scaling to handle fluctuating demand, along with geo-redundancy and automated failover to maintain operations through any disruption.

Ensuring resilience also means taking a holistic approach to protection, insight, and preparedness. Security must be embedded across the ecosystem—from robust identity and access controls to encryption, multi-factor authentication, and endpoint protection—all reinforced by proactive patching.

At the same time, real-time monitoring and artificial intelligence-driven analytics offer the visibility needed to detect issues early, whilst automation enables intelligent provisioning, seamless updates, and self-healing systems that reduce the risk of human error and accelerate recovery.

These capabilities must be underpinned by rigorous readiness planning: disaster recovery protocols should include frequent backups, regular testing, and disciplined change management, ensuring systems can be swiftly restored and regulatory standards consistently met.

Last but not least, performance also needs to be optimised by design. Using content delivery networks, edge computing, rate-limiting, and continuous capacity planning allows businesses to maintain the responsiveness and stability essential for industrial operations.

IIoT is the future – so it must be built to last
As IIoT solutions become integrated into more operations and processes, the consequences of failure grow. No longer afterthoughts, security, resilience, and uptime are now the difference between progress and falling behind.

Embedding high-availability, security, and automation into every layer of the IIoT infrastructure will future-proof operations, sustain growth, and maintain the productivity levels customers and stakeholders demand. The future of IIoT belongs to those who can maximise uptime – no matter what.